Microsoft Drops Xbox One DRM Restrictions - UPDATED

[klaynexas3]

Still getting a PS4, but that's for me simply liking playstation better in general. However, good on Microsoft for finally listening, and Don not saying something simply was him speaking out of his ass.

I wouldn't really congratulate them for this. They didn't listen when people were speaking out. They tried to defend their awful policies or spin them into something positive. Change only happened because people were actually backing up their protest for once by not pre-ordering the the thing in the numbers they expected. Wallets forced them into this, not words.

Actually, they sold out all the pre-orders they allocated to plenty of Gamestops, and while it was a much smaller number, Microsoft themselves make the allocation, so even they predicted a lesser turn out, meaning that it couldn't have been the pre-orders themselves that made Microsoft changer their minds. Maybe they planned it all along, simply to pull the "listening and caring company" card, but it'd be a bold and dick move. If that weren't the case, and maybe it was the voice of the masses that reached them, then even if they were considering it, they wouldn't publicly back peddle until necessary. All in all, I'd give them the benefit of the doubt that it was the internet shit storm that changed their minds, as it worked on multiple companies before them. But we can all take it in whatever way we choose.

 

[loa]

Now drop the kinect requirement, make the darn thing backwards compatible, drop the price, make all my downloadable titles carry over from my 360 and maybe we can talk.

 

[RicoADF]

Sorry Sony, I was with you for all of 1 week. But I can't be dealing with your controller. The only thing that put me off Xbox One was the online every 24 hours, now they've done away with it, I'll buy one.

Also, do you think they did this just so they could watch a Jimquistion on it? Granted it will still be scathing, but it'll be a u-turn nonetheless.

You could, you know, use another controller on the Playstation. The PS3 supports any controller that runs via USB, and I believe even any blutooth one too.

 

[Terramax]

The damage has already been done though.

Many people have already spent their saved money on Wii Us, and others others have turned away from MS because of this, along with the NSA fiasco. I was also looking forward to the continuous beatings and news that MS was losing money left, right, and center because of their plans. How what am I going to do with all this pop-corn?

Well, at least I can play Crimson Dragon now.

 

[emeraldrafael]

Damn, and here I was hoping they would let sony run away with it. Unfortunately, I think this is aprobably enough to make people forgive them and buy an XB1.

 

[Callate]

Am I the only one who's annoyed by this trade-off? Personally, two of the feature's I was most looking forward to were the ability to share games online with friends and family and the ability to play installed games without the disk, which have been removed along with always online requirement. I mean, the disk thing is just a matter of preference, but I live on the opposite side of the country to my family and quite a few of my gaming friends so just handing them the disk isn't really an option. This was going to mean I'd still be able to share games with my sisters and let my friends try out a game I've been raving about.

Now, instead of there being three fairly different consoles for three fairly different purposes (with Sony and Nintendo reprising their roles from the previous generation and MS having a more online-integrated approach) we're now back exactly where we were for the last two generation but just a little bit prettier; Nintendo is playing off in it's own little corner doing it's fun Nintendo stuff and PS and XB are both playing essentially the same kind of games with naught but a few exclusives separating them and trying to cater to the same audience.

If I wanted what the XBone is now providing, I'd have been planning to buy the PS4 as they're doing it cheaper and just as well (even if I dislike their controller). Now I'm just kinda left with a sour taste in my mouth at my ability to choose the kind of console I wanted taken away from me...

So that small niche ability is worth having a console that in 10-15yrs time will cease to function when the servers are shut down? Or when your net dies? As nice as the feature was, the price was too high and since Microsoft would be going by sales its clear that the majority of gamers (myself included) voted against it.

Things like losing content in the long term were always cause for concern, but frankly, that wasn't the big one for me. Even the XBox One itself wasn't the major problem, for me; as I've already seen a fair number of short-sighted people sneer, "But you could have just bought one of the other options! Why ruin it for us?"

The major problem was the message allowing the XBox One to go forward as written would have said to everyone else. Every media company connected to the RIAA, MPAA, or the ESA would have gotten the word that punitive, invasive DRM and TOS were something consumers were ready and willing to put up with. Put a camera into our living room to make sure we don't have eight people watching HBO's latest? Sure, we'll put up with that. Turn our phone into a brick for installing an app we don't approve of? Okey-dokey. Mind if we record some data about which commercials best hold your attention? 'Course, that's part of the "service". Think that disc you're holding is some kind of "product"? Sucks to be you.

The power that Microsoft wanted- and let's be honest, wants- isn't the kind that might be abused. It's the kind that would be abused, sooner or later, and if their customers were lucky they might dress it up with a song-and-dance about how it was about providing convenience. If you didn't have reliable, high throughput broadband, an HDTV, money to put into an ongoing subscription, and residency in one of the small number of countries they were willing to cover, you failed to qualify for membership in the club where lucky people got to have MS watch them like a hawk.

Cloud gaming may come when it's ready to be sold as a service rather than forced down customers' throats as a requirement. Netflix didn't ban anyone from going to Blockbuster; they sold themselves as a superior service. Steam didn't demand we think about the poor struggling publishers; they lured people with good prices, smart organization, and an attitude that suggested that customers were more than a commodity. (Both still have their detractors, some of whom have good points of their own, but that's not what I'm here to argue.) Microsoft said: "This is the way we want to do it. This is the way you will all do it now."

We said "No." And by God, that's the only appropriate response.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

The console race has just opened up.

I still doubt the Xbone will win it although, the old DRM system pushed allot of customers away and some will not return whatever MS will say.

The extra $100 for Kinect is another point of contention.

 

[Gormech]

I wouldn't say it's over just yet.
Really at this point, everything is screaming that they're gonna let a good bit of people buy the console and then flip that switch back on.
Calling it.

 

[Nazulu]

With the Kinnect still bound it's still evil. It's basically adding all these little things over time till it builds up again for their view of the 'future'.

I will be amazed if this turns out to be true though because that is a very big and expensive change they have to make.

 

[Your Fearless Captain]

Nothing short of Microsoft adding mandatory support of mods on the Xbone would change my mind on the Xbone.

 

[Rakschas]

It speaks for a basic common sense in Microsofts Leadership Circle to make a turnaround at this point and that is to be appreciated. Let us however not forget who was very much willing to brutalize us customers in the first place. Let us also not forget, that the XBOXOne still comes with an undetachable Kinnect device that cannot be deactived or disconnected, but simply switched to pause mode via software. The whole construct is one software update or command from bein reversed at a moments notice.

Sony and their PS4 arent all sunshine and daisies, but they had at least the common courtesy to not state their intent to fuck me over from the get go. Sorry for the language. Thats the bits and pieces you pick up on the internet when this isnt your native language.

 

[rob_simple]

Well, this certainly lends credence to my theory that Microsoft were using the Xbone reveal and E3 to trial-by-fire every shitty idea they could think of and drop whatever tested badly afterward, but I'm still not sold.

If they can turn off the online check-in and the other DRM's so easily then they can just as quickly turn them back on.

No deal, Xbone.

 

[mbarker]

One thing that didn't help X Box out was the overly combative stance of the MS employees defending it.

 

[Zing]

Great! I'm still not buying an Xbox.

 

[J Tyran]

Never thought they would do this, I was expecting them u-turn eventually. Say 12 months after the release of the Xbone they would have go scared and released an "Xbox one: Arcade" which just played disks and was heavily stripped out.

 

[RicoADF]

yeah I'm miffed by that too. the biggest, coolest, most interesting feature this whole console generation is gone. THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS. god damn it this in not a victory this is a loss. god fucking dammit I hate the internet sometimes. it's shit like this that makes me ashamed to be called gamer it really does.

I knew it too, as soon as my friend told me why they changed I told him to mark my words and the cool sharing feature would be pulled. why? it's to easy to abuse with out the DRM. A feature like that can't exist with out some sort of system of checks to make sure it isn't abused. I thought that would be clear and understood. so much for my hope in the community. Fuck.

So having Microsoft being able to turn off their server thus bricking your system and being able to take all your games away is a nice thing...... we have very different views on what 'nice' is. That's a bonehead feature and the customers told that to MS with their wallets.

 

[Extragorey]

As many others have said, too late, Microsoft. You've shown your true colours, and none shall trust you ever again.
Well, of course someone will, but it won't be me.

yeah I'm miffed by that too. the biggest, coolest, most interesting feature this whole console generation is gone. THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS. god damn it this in not a victory this is a loss. god fucking dammit I hate the internet sometimes. it's shit like this that makes me ashamed to be called gamer it really does.

So having Microsoft being able to turn off their server thus bricking your system and being able to take all your games away is a nice thing...... we have very different views on what 'nice' is. That's a bonehead feature and the customers told that to MS with their wallets.

I think this can apply to that guy's post: